Speculation is a heck of a word in our language. Now isn’t it? There is an awful lot of speculation that goes on in our world on a daily basis.

The word itself sounds more like something that would be associated with a really bad cough. “Is the patient speculating when they cough?” But, in reality, the word means “to form a theory about a subject without firm evidence.” Speculate.

A couple of groups in particular who are great at speculating are “Political Analysts” and “Talk Radio/ Talk TV Personalities”…..

About the first group. All I have to say at this point…. is we have a LONG way until November.

Now concerning the second group.  I try to stay away from opining about too much here. But this one has bothered me all week… and I really feel the need to give it a yammer and a nail.

I have never met Bill O’Reilly… a Talk TV Personalitiy.  I don’t know what kind of a guy he is in “real life”… if he is nice or mean…. or funny, boring, happy, miserable, kind, or a butt. Never met the guy. But I do know that he made a comment this week which I found extremely troubling. It was about Whitney Houston. (I didn’t know her either… or what she was like… and I sure wasn’t in her hotel bathroom when she died.)

But the O’Reilly comment was this. “Whitney Houston wanted to kill herself. Nobody takes drugs for that long if they want to stay on the planet. The hard truth is that some people will always want to destroy themselves, and there’s nothing society can do about it.”

Holy smokes. Is this guy working for the Psychic Network?  He knew Ms. Houston wanted to kill herself?  But wait…. there’s more….

Let me just talk about this on a few different levels.
1. As far as I know… the autopsy report has not been released. Every report about the “cause” of her death (at this point) is….. speculation.

2. Okay. Okay then.  Let us now speculate a little on our own… and say that Houston, did in fact, die of an overdose. (It is true she had been in and out of rehab several times to treat addiction of drugs and alcohol during the course of her life.)
But here is just a little FYI for you Bill. Alcoholism, and Drug Addiction, have been given the classification as illnesses… much like the body suffers from other illnesses such as Cancer, and Alzheimer’s.

And while there is no cure for Substance Addiction, there are treatments.  Similarly…. there isn’t a cure for Cancer yet…. or for Alzheimer’s either.  However there are treatments.  So what is your idea Bill … just because there isn’t a cure for these things… we shouldn’t be wasting our precious time on these weak minded and weak bodied individuals?  We should simply give up on them.

It is fourth and inches…. and you think we should punt the ball?

Yep.  Why not.   Just round ’em all up and put ’em on an island somewhere… so they can shrivel up and die…. far, far, away…. where we don’t have to bother with them in “good society” any more.  They are going to destroy themselves anyway, right?   Survival of the fittest, I guess.  This new set up could be similar to the Leper Colonies in olden times.  Perhaps that is where they should go?  Society can’t help them.  No place for them here.

Well…. I have yet another news flash Bill. There are lots of Alcoholics, and Addicts…. who are in a daily reprieve. They live their lives…. one day at a time…. making constant deposits on their sobriety savings account. It isn’t an easy road for them, but each day… they wake up… and don’t drink that day… or don’t do drugs that day.

Here’s another thing.  A lot of them have gone on to be “important” people in this world. Nobel Prize Winners. Politicians. Actors & Actresses. Authors. Athletes. Grocery Store Clerks. Truck Drivers. Computer Programmers. Activists. Clergymen/women. Bankers. Hot Dog Vendors. Important People, each one.

I do not know Mr. O’ Reilly… one way or the other. I just didn’t like what he said this week. That is a truth. It is also true that he was the Punter on the Club Football Team while in college. His ability to punt has stuck with him.  At least…. that is what I would speculate.

(Today’s Photo…. Two Mules.  People have a lot of different names for mules.)